Gen. Lee predicts early spring

LILBURN -- Georgia's groundhog forecaster, General Beauregard Lee, predicted an early spring today when he emerged from his home and failed to see his shadow.

Cloudy skies kept the 9-year-old rodent from seeing his shadow when he came out of his small mansion at 7:34 a.m., said Ruth Letowsky, a spokeswoman for the Yellow River Game Ranch, where General Lee lives.

Game ranch officials roused him with an antique farm bell and the scent of Southern yams.

Legend has it that if a groundhog emerges from his burrow to see his shadow on Groundhog Day, there will be six more weeks of winter. If not, there will be an early spring.

General Lee has missed only once in his nine years of forecasting -- in 1993, when he predicted an early spring but Georgia suffered through a record March blizzard.

Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil; New York City's Staten Island Chuck; Jimmy of Sun Prairie, Wis.; Wanda at the Milwaukee County Zoo; and Buckeye Chuck of Marion, Ohio, are also credited with possessing forecasting skills.

Having animals predict the weather is an old European custom. Groundhog Day falls about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

In Georgia, February is generally about 4 degrees warmer than January, which averages 41 degrees in the Atlanta area. On average, the last freeze is about March 10.